Troubles in Otari

"A blessing pool. I've heard about these," Mienna says to herself, before cupping up some of the water and drinking it.

The two others – Fritz, and Parul – move close to the blessing pool as Mienna drips her hand into the water and lifts it to drink. Parul follows with a shrug, lowering her head to drink – and catching sight of Mienna as she recoils back, feeling the floor almost roil beneath her feat, holding the edge of the bowl for support.
“What’s wrong?” Fritz ask, even as Parul seems to nod at the taste, a little ‘mhm!’ of approval. With an eye on Mienna, the lad dips a broad hand into the pool himself to sip down the water. “Do…you need some help going down the ropes, Mienna?”

"I- I..." Mienna takes a second to center herself, her shoulders still visibly, though slightly, trembling despite it. "I... think I'll be... okay," She eventually gets out. "J-just a bit... more... than I was expecting."

"My mother used to say she got the same way when she drank such things. I never knew how bad it was. I'm sure you'll overcome it, right?" He says, favoring Mienna with a smile but staying nearby near till she finds her feet and footing.

"Yeah," Mienna says, giving Fritz a shaky smile. "Just gonna need a bit of time."

After some discussion, the party agrees to keep moving, despite Mienna's sickness. They proceed into a large room that looks that like it was once a storeroom for a building above. At the far side, you can make out what might have been a cage or cell at some point, but it is now full of crates and barrels. Four kobolds are clustered around the door to the cell, trying to pry it open. They are so engrossed with their task that they don't notice you approaching.

"Halt..." Mienna says, not quite loud enough for the shout she'd intended but still loud enough to be heard, as she raises one of her axes with a still-trembling hand. "Cease what you're doing and we might... have mercy on you."

Unswayed, the kobolds attack, but the party defeats them with little difficulty. Despite the kobolds' efforts, the steel gate remains locked. Inside the cell are an assortment of crates and barrels, left unopened for who knows how long. Mienna swiftly picks the lock and finds a magic shortsword (which is then given to Parul) along with 200 sp and a valuable ring.

The next 'room' is a short hallway with smooth walls of worked stone and an open door at either end. The floor is tiled with large, square stone tiles. Up ahead is a long, narrow room which seems to contain a table and a statue, though their details can't yet be seen in full.

"What are those statues?" Fritz asks the others, wondering if anyone had any ideas despite the distance. He walks forward, shield at the ready. He doesn't notice the sharp sudden 'click' from under his foot before the rock was already on it's way, landing witha solid audible 'Crack' to the top of his head.
"Ow." He groans and lifts his hand - and sheild, upward and glances down. "Careful...traps. Or stupidly loose rocks. Ow!"

The others move in with caution, but they remain unharmed.

Two stone statues of priests stand in the corners along one side of this room, facing a towering statue of a man holding out both of his hands, palms up.

In front of the big statue is a stone altar holding nine golden coins. A voice booms out from the statue - “In my hands I judge the value of all wealth, raising up whichever is greater. One of these coins is a deception. Find it using only two judgments and receive my blessing.”

Mienna steps forward, looking over the nine coins. Thinking back to a story she'd heard as a young girl, she carefully divides the coins into three sets of three. Placing two of the piles in the statue's hands, she waits a moment, and the hands move, lifting one pile higher. Removing both piles, she splits the lower pile, placing two coins, one on each hand. After a moment without the statue seeming to respond, it states in a booming voice, "Which is the false coin?" To which Mienna giddily holds up the third coin, the one held back.

With Mienna's success, a stone door lurches open, revealing a small chamber with an old wooden chest emblazoned with the symbol of a key. Inside the chest are some coins, an emerald, and a scroll. Behind the chest is a massive contraption of gears and pulleys that looks like the inner workings of some unseen device.

While the others go over the contents of the chest, Mienna instead approaches the contraption at the back. "This definitely controls... something. No clue what. I'm very tempted to try it and find out though," She says, hand hovering halfway to touching the device.

While Mienna inspects the device, Parul and Ayanda notice small pinholes looking into the adjacent room, where they witness several kobolds milling around, chatting in Draconic.

Fritz encourages Mienna to pull the lever, so she does. A yelp is heard as Parul and Ayanda see a spear thrust up from a hole in the floor, seriously wounding one of the kobolds. The little reptile-folks immediately start yelling and scurrying around, trying to figure out what happened and how.

As the kobolds begin scurrying, Ayanda turns to Mienna with a smirk. "Keep pulling the lever! It's dealing with the kobolds nicely."

Two more kobolds get caught by the traps while trying to figure out where they are. They escape, while the third isn't so lucky. Two others taunt Parul and Ayanda, while another three bust down a nearby door and prepare to attack. Ayanda steps forward and casts Burning Hands; then Parul pulls her back, because she's squishy and shouldn't be on the frontline.

Realizing they are at a disadvantage here, the kobolds retreat. Parul gives chase and gets stabbed. She stabs right back, killing one, while Ayanda takes cover behind her and casts Burning Hands again, killing another. Then Fritz and Mienna move in, with Mienna slaying one and Fritz killing two others.

With that, the two remaining kobolds fall back and call out to another who seems to be their superior. This doesn't do them much good. With a powerful Ray of Frost, Ayanda creates a kobold ice statue, while Fritz charges in and scores a third kill.

Now alone and surrounded, the kobold trapmaster gets whittled down by a team effort. She tries to run, but Fritz cuts her down before she can escape.

As they tally up their loot, the party notices a necklace worn by the trapmaster; a simple copper chain with a cracked piece of a large eggshell. The shell is ivory in color, with strange green veins running through it. This piece is only about 3 inches across, but the egg it came from must have been at least 2 feet wide.

Ayanda surveys the egg piece. "Oh my..." she exclaims as she picks it up. "This came from a dragon egg."

“Do you know how big? Mom and dad always said that if you simply must fight a dragon, make sure it’s small. They also said ‘never said hunt a good dragon’, or much of anything else ‘cause I shouldn’t hunt a dragon until I’m at least 21, or when I’m with a lot of good friends and they can make sure I’m ok and I can get home safe and we don’t go overboard and I send them a Message right away, because it’s very dangerous to do it by yourself.” Fritz nods at that, sagely, before sighing and covering his mouth with his hand.


“I’ve always wanted to fight a dragon, though.” He off to the side. “Granddad always said how exciting fighting dragons were. Both of them! Grandpa Hengus even fought one in the arena!”

The four return to Tamily and tell her what they found.

"They have a dragon ?!" She shudders, but then thinks for a moment. "...although, if it was a big dragon, it would need to eat a lot more than what they've been stealing. If it's a baby, then maybe you can kill it becomes a real threat."

"I'm sorry, did you just suggest killing a baby?" says Rico, the priest of Sarenrae who'd healed you earlier. "Dragon or not, that's a bit much."

"It's definitely still young," Mienna says. "It is a dragon though. I've not exactly encountered one myself, but from what I've heard, even a young dragon could be quite bad."

"I dunno if babies can be evil," Parul muses. "Like, could you raise a baby dragon to be good?"

"I don't know. Maybe an elf, they might have the lifespan for it," Mienna comments.

"Look, I don't think it's worth our time to debate it. Far as I know, most of these things are evil so killing one, even a baby, is probably fine from a moral standpoint," Ayanda replies.

"Look, I just think it's worth a try," says Rico.

"And I think you're nuts," counters Tamily. "But either way, you all look tired. You can get some rest and come back tomorrow. Oh, and you-" she gestures to Ayanda- "You can crash here at the Fishery. There's a bunk room up in the attic."